And here is the new chapter two. I hope you enjoy it.
The sun peeking through her curtains woke her the next morning. Emily rolled over in bed and buried her face into the pillow. It was one of those rare days when the planets aligned, and she didn't have to work any of her four jobs. She rolled onto her back and stretched, her hand coming to trace the fading bruise on her leg. Her mind wandered back to last night, to the boy, to Riff. He was attractive she wasn't going to kid herself and pretend he wasn't. He was also cocky and childish and reckless and annoying and a complete scoundrel. Shaking her head to try and rid the boy from her brain she got out of bed and wrapped her robe around her pausing to look at herself in the mirror, the bruising was almost all gone now, faded where the memories never would. She shook her head again and pulled her robe tighter around her body walking out of the bedroom into the kitchen. Emily switched on the coffee pot, working on making a fresh batch and then opened the fridge taking out eggs, mushrooms, bacon and cheese. She turned on the radio and sang along with the music as she cooked. Food and most importantly coffee made she sat down at the table and ate.
After breakfast she had a shower and got dressed for the day, selecting a pair of shorts and a blue top with cold shoulder sleeves. She sat down at the piano, her piano, it was one of the only things she'd made sure was transported from her old home. She took out her notebook and looked over the scribblings and tried to make sense of them, put them together into something whole.
A soft knock on the door made her look up and she walked over to open the door to see Officer Krupke stood there. "Hello Emily."
"Good morning Officer Krupke." Emily smiled at him. "Please, come in." She motioned him inside and shut the door. "Can I get you some coffee?"
"That would be nice. And you know you can call me John." John walked inside taking off his hat and sat down at the kitchen table.
Emily bustled about making a fresh pot of coffee, setting two cups down on the table and sat down on the other chair. "So, to what do I owe the visit?"
John sipped at his coffee. "Thought I would check in; see how you're doing."
Emily nodded staring down into her coffee. "I'm okay."
John reached out and placed his hand over hers. "It's okay if you're not."
"What do you want me to say?" Emily snapped at him. "That the nightmares are so bad I opt not to sleep instead, that I cried for four hours last night! It sucks! I hate this feeling, but I have to move on, I have to keep going because if I don't, I'll go fucking insane."
"Okay. So how are the new jobs? Val says you've added more to the schedule." John sipped his coffee changing the subject.
Emily nodded. "I'm working three days at Molesey's Diner, and I've started doing two nights over at McCreedy's pub as well as the other two jobs."
"But no want to go back into medicine?" John pushed her.
"No." Emily shook her head. "Not right now anyway." She took another sip of coffee.
John nodded. "I do have one other reason for being here." He reached into his coat pocket and took out an envelope. "We found this in Aiden's belongings, it's addressed to you." He pushed it over to her.
Emily looked down at the envelope and a small smile crossed her lips. "It's er... His letter. When we went in, we were told to write a letter to each other in case we..."
"Do you need a minute?"
"No." Emily shook her head. "I already know what it says." She smiled holding out the envelope to him.
John frowned and took the envelope, opening it and unfolded the letter. "My dearest Emily. Well babe, I didn't make it which sucks but know this, I lived a great life and knew the risks, hell I got to see you naked a good bunch of times so that makes it worth all the trouble. You're the greatest gal I know which isn't hard as I know a total of four but even if I knew four hundred, you'd still make at least the top ten." He chuckled. "Don't give up and continue to be the badass I know you are. Love Aiden." He folded up the letter.
"He was a real wordsmith." Emily shook her head.
John laughed shaking his head, handing the letter back to her. "He loved you."
Emily nodded. "I loved him too." She smiled sadly.
John placed a hand on her shoulder. "You will be okay Em. He's right, you're made of strong stuff, and you can do anything you set your mind to."
Emily smiled. "Thank you. Now let's talk about something nicer, how are Nancy and the kids?" She asked him.
John smiled. "They're doing great. Do you want to see some pictures?"
Emily nodded. "Of course!"
John took out his wallet and took out two pictures. "Here's Joseph, he's just turned three and Harriet is five." He showed her the most recent pictures.
"Wow, the last time I saw Joseph he was three days old." Emily gasped looking over the photographs. "Where did that time go huh?"
John nodded. "Yeah, and we just found out we're adding another one to the table."
Emily gasped. "Shut up Nancy is pregnant! Congratulations."
"Four months." John grinned.
"That's amazing." Emily nodded handing him the photos back.
John nodded. "You'll have to come have dinner with us soon."
"I'd like that." Emily agreed.
"Good cause we're expecting you on Saturday, no excuses. I know you only work at the bookstore on Saturdays. Four o'clock good?"
Emily nodded. "I'll be there."
John sighed. "Well, I better be on my way. It was good to see you, Emily. Don't be a stranger." He stood up picking up his hat from the table.
Emily got up and led him to the door. "I will try. Four o'clock on Saturday, tell Nancy I'll bring dessert." She called to him.
John nodded. "You got a deal." He pointed to her waving as he walked down the stairs.
Emily closed the door and ran her hand through her hair. She cleared up the coffee cups and started working on getting ready to run her errands for the day. First, she went to the laundromat and did her laundry, enjoying the air conditioning as she washed and dried her clothes whilst exploring the world of Middle Earth. Then she stopped by the bank to cash her pay checks for the week. Then she stopped by the florist, picked up a bunch of flowers and then headed over to the cemetery. She crossed into the churchyard and made her way through the headstones, passing mourners old and new until she arrived at the correct grave. Kneeling on the dry grass she took the dead flowers out of the display vase and put in the fresh ones, taking a rag from her bag and cleaned off the headstone before sitting back with a sigh. "Hey you." She said softly to the headstone. "Got your letter, made me think about the one I wrote, much less sentimental." She chuckled. "I'm a little disappointed I didn't get a naked picture in mine but since John was there, I'm relived we didn't scar him. I've started working again, not in medicine and I know you think I should but I'm just ready for that yet, but I need to work, keep busy or I'll start climbing the walls." She paused pressing her lips together. "I miss you." She admitted feeling tears prick her eyes and quickly wiped them away. "Well, I better go, lots to do, can't sit around talking to your butt all day." She stood up and dusted her hands on her shorts. "I'll come back soon." She kissed her fingers and rested them on the headstone.
It was a rare occasion that she'd opted to walk instead of skate and so she enjoyed the afternoon sunshine walking slowly through town. She liked to be outside, but she was ready to get home and curl up in her chair with a book and not move for the rest of the day.
"Emily!"
Jumping at the sound of her name being called, her body tensing ready for a fight she turned and felt herself relax as she saw Velma and Graziella sat outside a coffee shop, waving her over. Taking a deep breath, Emily checked it was okay to and crossed the road, plastering on a smile as she went. "Hey." She greeted them.
"So weird, we never see you outside the diner." Velma smiled at her. "Do you live around here?" She asked her.
Emily nodded. "A few blocks away." She shoved her hands in her pockets.
"Come, join us." Graziella motioned to an empty seat. "We're waiting for the boys, but this place does amazing ice cream floats." She motioned for her to sit.
Unable to think of a good excuse Emily slipped into a free chair. She looked up as a waiter came out and she pressed her lips together. "Er... I'll have a black coffee."
"In this heat?" Velma asked.
Emily smiled. "It actually cools me down, weird I know." She shrugged. "So, what are you up to today?" She asked them.
"Oh, we just went shopping for dresses for the dance tomorrow night at the gym. Are you coming?" Velma asked her.
"I have to work." Emily shook her head accepting her cup of coffee from the waiter.
"But our shift at the diner finishes at three." Graziella frowned.
Emily shook her head. "Docs. I work the closing shift there three days a week." She took a sip of coffee. "Then I do my three days at the diner which co-inside with the closing shifts at Docs, then I work two nights a week at McCreedy's pub which co-inside with the two days I work at the bookstore." She explained with a shrug.
Graziella looked at her with wide eyes. "Why all the jobs?"
"I like to keep busy." Emily shrugged. "Saving up."
"Well what time do you finish at Docs? Because the dance doesn't start until ten, that's when we're getting there anyway." Velma explained. "You could come to my place once you finish work to get ready." She added.
Emily pressed her lips together. "I finish at nine."
"Perfect, I live around the corner from Docs, you can come to mine to get ready and we'll all go together." Velma clapped her hands together.
Graziella gave Emily a sympathetic smile. "Just go with it Emily, she will not take no for an answer." She shook her head.
Emily sighed. "Okay fine but it's your funeral trust me I'm a terrible dancer."
Velma smiled. "I think we'll manage. It'll be so much fun, and I won't make you dance if you don't want to." She promised.
Emily took a pen out of her bag. "Write down your address before I change my mind."
Velma scribbled down her address on a napkin and handed it and the pen back to her.
Emily downed the rest of her coffee, slipping the napkin into her bag along with the pen. "Well, I have to get going, but I'll see you tomorrow." She went to stand up and knocked into someone and would have fallen had a pair of arms not wrapped around her. She looked up into bright blue eyes, feeling her heart drop seeing they belonged to Riff.
Riff grinned down at Emily. "Glad I could catch you for once." He felt his hand on warm soft skin and looked down at where his hand had caught her pushing her top up and frowned. "Is that a tattoo?" He asked.
Emily pulled out of the young man's arms, yanking her top back down. "No."
"Looked like a tattoo to me." Riff smirked. "And that looks like another one." He motioned to her collarbone.
Emily glared at him. "So, I've got ink, so have you."
Riff held up his hands. "I ain't judging."
"I have to go." Emily swung her bag over her shoulder. "See you at work." She waved to the girls and hurried off down the street, wishing she'd worn her skates for a faster getaway.
Riff waved to his friends and jogged after her. "Hey wait up." He called catching up to her and fell into step beside her. "Look I'm sorry if I upset you. I really didn't mean anything by it, I think it's cool a girl has ink. And well you did crash into me." He pointed out.
Emily kept walking not looking at him. "And I still owe you one so be careful I don't push you into oncoming traffic."
Riff laughed. "Calm down spitfire. Look could you just stop for a second." He grabbed her arm pulling her to stop walking.
Emily stopped and looked down at his hand on her arm. "What do you want?"
Riff went to answer but he found he didn't have an answer. What did he want? He knew what he didn't want. He didn't want her to go.
"Everything all right here?"
Riff rolled his eyes. Of course, it was Shrank. "Everything is fine Lieutenant."
"Miss?" Shrank asked Emily.
Emily nodded. "Fine." She pulled her arm out of Riff's grip. "Excuse me, I have to be going. It was nice seeing you Riff." She nodded her head and turned on her heel walking off down the street.
Riff went to follow but Shrank caught his arm.
"What are you up to Riff?"
Riff yanked his arm out of the man's grip and glared at him. "Stay out of my business." He shoved his hands in his pockets and turned to walk away.
"Your mother sorted out the hospital bill." Shrank called out.
Riff stopped mid-step and glanced around making sure no one was in earshot before continuing down the street not bothering to answer the cop. His blood boiled in his veins, and it wasn't from the summer heat. Just seeing Shrank made him mad and of course he had to bring up his ma. And interrupt his conversation with Emily. And what was the big deal about her having a tattoo, the second one he didn't really see what it was but that one freaked her out more than the one on her collarbone, she wasn't hiding that one. So, what was the big deal? He shook his head and tried to press down the anger. So, his ma had paid the hospital bill, big deal, not like she really cared about him.
And that is chapter two, I hope you all enjoyed it. Please feel free to leave a review. More to come soon.
